Rowpar to sell products at 1,000 Walmart sites

Rowpar Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Scottsdale maker of toothpastes and rinses using a formula that includes chlorine dioxide, was doing fine selling its products at CVS, Walgreens and other drugstores nationwide.

Then Andy Gritti, executive vice president of Rowpar, got a call from Walmart Stores Inc. execs, asking if he could go to their headquarters in Arkansas for a meeting.

They told him it was the first time they’d ever reached out to a vendor.

“They could see we were selling at Walgreens and CVS and wanted part of that action,” Gritti said. “They don’t pay attention unless you really bring up some big numbers, which we have. They wanted to put our products in all their stores.”

Gritti was reluctant to disclose revenue for his 12-employee private company, saying only that it generates less than $10 million a year.

Walmart has about 4,000 stores nationwide, which initially would sound like an opportunity for a huge revenue boost.

But Gritti said, “no.”

No?

“We’re not right in all your stores,” he told the folks at Walmart, because his products are priced higher than other brands: $12 for toothpaste and $13 for rinses.

“One of the reasons we didn’t pursue Walmart is because we didn’t see it as a strategic fit,” Gritti said. “Walmart has convinced me with data that some of their stores are in higher-end locations.”

He even rejected some of Scotts­dale’s posh stores, including the one at Chap­arral Road and Loop 101.

Eventually, he agreed to place his products in 25 percent of Walmart’s stores, which amounts to about 1,000 nationwide. They will hit the shelves in February.

Gritti said the products have a mild mint taste.

“People don’t brush or rinse long enough because it burns,” he said. “If you read the directions for many mouthwash competitors, if you don’t gargle for one minute it’s not efficacious. I tried to gargle with Listerine for 30 seconds, and I couldn’t taste my food for the rest of the week.”

Gritti said his company is working on some new rinse formulas, but he isn’t ready to talk more about them.

The chlorine dioxide, under the trade name Cloralstan, is activated when it hits the saliva.

“It looks, tastes and smells like water,” Gritti said.

Founded by a group of dentists in 1991, the company has 17 U.S. patents and several foreign patents for its oral therapeutic use of chlorine dioxide.

The products also are sold in dentists’ offices under the brand name Dentists’ Choice.